Baby ER: The Heroic Doctors and Nurses Who Perform Medicine's Tinies Miracles Paperback – May 19, 2004

This is a look inside the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and how the tiniest babies are cared for on a daily basis. The book follows 11 different babies and their families with their struggle to get their little ones home. The stories vary from parents who had a full term infant and something happened during the birth that landed them in the NICU, to babies who are born drug addicted because their mom's used while they were pregnant. The babies have good days, and bad, and it is a constant roller coaster to get them healthy and home.This was a great book. I am a pediatric nurse, and there have been many occasions that my patients were preemies to start out their life. Some preemies go on to never have another problem, and some have life long challenges. Reading this book and hearing the parent's views of what it is like to have a baby that small, and the nurses/doctor's views on how it is to keep them alive was intense. Some babies were less than a pound at birth, and yet went home. Others were close to full term infants, but had too many health problems, and died.Check out this book. IT is a little technical, but not overly so. I found that it spoke more of the families and the care of the babies than medical terms 90% of the time. Even though it was written 15 years ago - and medical miracles have come just that much further in saving these little babies - it still gives you an idea of just how far we have come in keeping them alive.